Previous KETV story on the fatal Nebraska fire that just brought charges

From KETV  — Fireworks were set off in or near a Lincoln fraternity the night before a fire killed one person, an affidavit released on Tuesday afternoon shows.Ryan Stewart, of Ord, was killed in the fire. Aaron McGuire, 21, of Sioux Falls, S.D., Travis Mann, 22, of Beatrice, and David Spittler, 20, were injured in a fire at the Phi Kappa Tau house at Nebraska Weslyan University.Tuesday night, fraternity alumni gathered at Lincoln restaurant, Michel’s Grille Ville, to hold a fundraiser for their fraternity brothers. Lance Hall is on the fraternity’s board of governors. He said while investigators do their jobs, fraternity members need to offer support to their friends.”What I think we need to do is get all of the information, it’s really difficult to speculate, to be specific when we’re waiting to find out causes, but again I think we decided to put our focus on helping the men, in what could be a very delicate situation in their lives,” Hall said.The search warrant confirmed what neighbors told KETV NewsWatch 7 shortly after the fire — that they heard explosions in the early-morning hours of Nov. 17.According to a search warrant affidavit, fraternity members told investigators that fireworks were being set off in or around the fraternity.On the day of the fire, investigators were seen collecting bottle rockets from outside the front steps.The search warrant shows that investigators confiscated dozens of bottle rockets, Black Cat 1.5-inch firecrackers, a Strike Force Missile firework, water bomb firecrackers and Texas Giant Pop Rockets.The search warrant also details how one fraternity member noticed a calendar burning near or next to the room where the fire started. He told investigators he stomped out the calendar and threw it in the east stairwell.According to the affidavit, the fire started in or near room 203, which was Stewart’s room.Court records show that one fraternity member went in to Stewart’s room as the fire was burning, and that Stewart was standing in the room. That person told investigators Stewart was staring at a futon that was on fire in the room. Court papers said the member told Stewart to get out, then pulled the fire alarm.Fraternity members also told fire investigators there was a function going on at the fraternity on Nov. 16 that went into the morning hours of Nov. 17, the affidavit showed.